The Way of the Swordsmen
by ShinyIzuna
Summary: Naruto is lost after his best friend had almost killed him, but has found new life in an old shrine by the river. What powers will he unlock? Rated M for safety.


**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or any copyrighted references you see in this story.**

**Legend**

"Speaking"

'_thinking_'

"_Sword talking"_

**POV(Naruto)**

All he could feel was pain and his sights were filled with blood. Was it his blood? Yes, he concluded from the feeling of emptiness that slowly overtook him. He looked into his best friend's eyes as they changed from sinister to shock. Did Sasuke regret what he did? He would never know as Sasuke's hand slid out of his chest and he fell into the river below. Water slowly overtook him as he drowned, too weak to fight the ever growing current. Soon his vision turned dark as his life faded away.

**POV(All)**

Sasuke couldn't believe what he just did. Was it all the curse seal which lazily pulsed on his neck. He could watch as his best friend fell into the waters below, and then realization hit him. He killed his best friend. He did what he told himself he would never do. Sasuke jumped to the river banks and kneeled down in the pool of blood that fell from Naruto's wound before he hit the water. He heard someone land next to him, but he didn't care. All that he knew was that his friend was dead, and it was his fault.

Kakashi looked in anger at his grieving student. It didn't take a genius like Shikamaru to figure out what happened. "How could you."

Sasuke tensed up, not from surprise, but from the amount of hate he could hear in his sensei's voice. "I.. Couldn't stop myself.. I could only watch as the curse seal took over my body and did…that!"

"Save your excuses for the Hokage, Scum. Not only have you turned your back on your friends, but you stabbed them in the back, or in your case a chidori to the heart." Sasuke's shoulders slumped as he stood up to run back with his former sensei as things would seem.

Kakashi took one sad look back to the waters before escorting Sasuke back to the village. Even in anger, Kakashi looked in pity as he followed his student back to the village. If all was true, then it must have pained the boy to kill his best friend without control of his own being. _'Sensei, if only you could've seen your son now. Dying to protect all he loves. Well, at least he'll meet you and his mother in the afterlife. He deserves happiness.'_ Kakashi felt his mask dampen slightly as tears fell from his revealed eye.

**Several Miles Down Stream**

Naruto woke up on the banks of the river to a voice calling out to him. He started coughing and soon puked out the water that had infiltrated his lungs. He could feel Kyuubi's chakra surge through him, trying to keep him on this plane of existence. Struggling he looked up to see a shrine, where he could only guess the voice was coming from. Grunting in pain, he slowly got up and stood. Shakily he made his way over to the shrine, slowly hearing the voice more and more clearly.

'_Come closer child and all will be answered. Don't be shy, come over.'_

Naruto, on the brink of death, thought nothing to this new voice and opened the shrine doors. He was greeted to the sight of a sword handle complete with its guard. He tilted his head sideways, wondering what became of the sword itself. The handle looked like hell as it was only held together by wrappings.

'_Do you wish to become strong Naruto?'_

"How do you know my name? And yes I do." Naruto looked at the sword handle, hoping it would answer back quickly. He wasn't greeted with an answer, but rather a bright light that overtook him. He felt as if he was lying down and, even though everything was bright, he could feel his eyes closed.

'_Wake up Naruto.'_

**Konoha (Hokage's Office)**

Tsunade looked in anger at the last remaining Uchiha as Jiraiya, who was conveniently in the area, studied the Curse Seal and Inoichi searched his memories. She did want to believe that he was overtaken by the Curse Seal, but at the same time this was the very same ninja who killed Naruto. She was in shock when Kakashi told her and was about to object and start searching, but she knew if Naruto was alive then Kakashi would have found a scent to go off of. Jiraiya soon confirmed it when Naruto's name stopped glowing in the summoning scroll.

"I hate to say it, but the kid's right. This seal has the power to do just as he said." Jiraiya looked to see Tsunade shake her head at his words.

"His memories are vague and dark around the situation. It's almost as if he watched everything happen through a pool of murky water. My guess is that the idea of what he had done shocked him back into reality. Curse Seal or not, an event like that is enough to bring anyone back to their senses." Inoichi looked at the Hokage, knowing his report didn't help her in the slightest.

"Look! We can't just overlook what happened. I know it wouldn't be fair to place a death sentence on a Shinobi who had no control over his actions, so I think I have come up with the next best thing." Everyone tuned in to hear her verdict. "First, I want Jiraiya to seal the Curse Seal away as best as he can. If anything, remove anyway his mind can be controlled. Second, three months prison time and nine months of probation, this includes nothing but D-Rank missions under the supervision of Kakashi. I can't promise I may re-enact your shinobi license fully after this, but this will be your trial period to prove us wrong about you."

"Whats the point."

"Excuse me?" Tsunade couldn't believe the nerve of the kid.

"You heard me, I said whats the point?! I killed my best friend! There is no reason for me to live…" Tsunade felt pity for the boy, but it was short lived as she got up and slapped him across the face.

"What would Naruto think if he saw you acting like this? He would be disappointed. He would want you to move on and continue being the ninja you are. The ninja he wished to match and beat. So quit your whining and accept your fate."

Sasuke's head fell as he nodded. She had a point. He would go through his sentence and come out being a better shinobi. He wouldn't be doing it for revenge anymore. No, he could be doing it to continue his best friend's legacy. The one he ended so soon….

**With Naruto**

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he looked around seeing himself in a large field filled with red flowers. He turned to see a six foot man with long red flowing hair walk over. He was wearing loose black shinobi pants and was shirtless, but carried a long black trench coat over his shoulders. The coat dragged lightly behind him. His blue eyes seemed to match Naruto's in intensity as they both stared at each other. "Who are you?"

'_The voice you've been following Naruto. My name is…'_

"What? I couldn't hear it."

'_Don't worry little one, you will soon. Now I bet you are wondering where you are and why you are here.' _Naruto nodded. _'We are in the dimension you humans call limbo; The world between the living and the dead. Here is where you will train to become a strong ninja.'_

"Umm, why me? Why are you training me?"

'_Well for one, you have the heart and near death qualities that I usually require.' _The spirit seemed to laugh at this. _'You want to get stronger don't you? _(Nod here) _Well good, I will be one of your many teachers.'_

"Teachers?"

'_Yes. You see since this connects the living and the dead, it's easier for us to get people who have passed on. You're probably wondering why people would train you? To answer that, it's simple. They are either people who wanted to or people who wish to pass on their teachings and didn't have time to. Speaking of which, here comes your first teacher.'_

Naruto looked behind him to see someone he never thought he would see. "Hello Naruto."

"Yondaime-sama?!" Naruto looked in shock as the fourth hokage, complete in his legendary robes walked in from the blank emptiness that was the white world.

"Please, you can call me Dad." Naruto blinked in shock before quickly getting angry and charging the blonde haired man. The old Hokage knew this would happen and allowed his son to attack him full force with his punches. Only when he saw the Rasengan coming he knew he should dodge, dead or not it wasn't easy to heal wounds as time wasn't on their side completely. "Look I know your mad…."

"MAD? NO I'M FURIOUS! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!? YOUR OWN SON! LEAVING ME IN THAT HELL HOLE WITH NOTHING, BUT RUMORS ON HOW MY FAMILY HATED AND ABANDONED ME! WHY!" The kage looked in sadness, knowing fully of Naruto's life as he had watched it from not only the seal, but the afterlife as well.

"I know, and no apology could ever make it up, but will you at least hear me out?" Naruto didn't move from his dead on stare and the Kage took that as he was listening. "Now you have to look at it from my perspective. You dream of being the Hokage right? Then you know what being the Hokage entails; protecting the village at any cost to save those precious to you. Now at the time, the village was nice and peaceful. After everything I saw you go through, I doubt I would do what I did again, but as the Hokage at the time, the village is what I had as my Family. I only hoped they would treat you just as much as family as I treated them. Knowing what you went through, would you wish it upon anyone else?" Naruto shook his head, calming down as he listened. "Let alone you knew only a child could contain the beast, and you would never ask another family to make that sacrifice. So I did what any village leader did, I trusted my village. I now know that was a mistake and I don't blame you for having resentment towards the village, but at least you heard me out. So, what do you say now?"

Naruto felt tears fall from his eyes as he looked at the man. He couldn't be mad anymore, he knew it was not only pointless, but wrong. "I just wanted to know my family loved me…."

The Kage cringed at hearing that and knelt beside the boy hugging him close. "We do Naruto, and always have."

"Aw MINATO DID YOU MAKE MY BABY CRY!?" Naruto and Minato both looked in shock as a red haired women made her way into the plain of existence. She wore a simple purple dress that hugged her body nicely and had two bright blue eyes.

"Dad… who is that?" Naruto looked at his father for some sort of answer.

"That's… your mother." Naruto looked in awe and quickly ran and hugged the angry women. Seeing what happened, she calmed down and hugged her son back. "You sure know when and how to make an entrance Kushina."

"OH SHUSH MINATO! I AM BONDING WITH OUR SON!" Naruto laughed at his parents antics which brought a smile onto both of their faces.

The red haired man on the other hand, was getting impatient. He cleared his throat getting the attention of all three of them. "Now while I hate to interrupt this touching reunion. You two don't have time to waste catching up, and if you did you can make more use of the time by doing it while training him."

Kushina looked in awe at the man before her, "Father? Is that… you?"

The man laughed, "No I am not Roku Uzumaki, but this is his body. I am the sword he wielded and the one that Naruto will soon wield as well. I have gathered you two here not only to see your son for the second time it seems, but so you can train him. This won't include just wielding me, but every aspect of the ninja way. I don't want a weak wielder and I'm sure you don't want to disappoint the Uzumaki clan by being as weak as you are now."

The sword grinned as he saw Naruto act negatively to the statement. Minato took this moment to say a few words, "If what you say is correct, how long does he have in this world?"

"Three human years, one for every aspect of jutsu; Tai and Ken, Gen and Fuuin, and Nin. Also known as the trails of the Body, Mind, and Spirit. This is what it takes to wield not only me, but the full bloodline of the Uzumaki clan. With my help, and those I summon here. You will make the clan proud."

Naruto smiled, "When do we begin?"


End file.
